FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a feeding table for sheets in a feeder of a sheet-fed printing press, the feeding table having a surface which, at least in subregions thereof, is formed with through openings, over which sheets separable or singlable by a suction head are transported against lays for aligning the sheets and through which air feedable under the sheet in the region of the suction head is dischargeable in a downward direction.
A feeding table of this general type corresponds to that of the state of the art generally practiced by various manufacturers of such feeders. When separating or singling the sheets supplied to the feeder from a sheet pile, large quantities of air are blown under the sheets. In particular, sheets formed of very light paper or other very light printing materials or stock tend to have wavy deformations and correspondingly lie in a wave-shaped manner on the feeding table. Unfavorable feeder register when aligning the sheets, or mackling phenomena can result therefrom.
As a countermeasure, excess air is removed in a downward direction through openings which are formed in the table plate, the openings having a cross section suitably matching the air quantity to be removed. The openings are holes or perforations conventionally of round, oval, and oblong shape as viewed in a top plan view. Corners or edges of the respective sheets can become caught in the holes or perforations during sheet transport, leading to grave consequences for the continuation of the printing operation.